Systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between long working hours and hypertension risk

Hypertension, a major public health problem worldwide, has been linked to lifestyle factors and work conditions, with conflicting evidence on the association between long work hours and risk of hypertension. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies to investigate t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of epidemiology and community health (1979) Vol. 78; no. 6; p. 367
Main Authors Ahn, Joonho, Song, Ji-Hun, Shin, In-Soo, Cho, In Young, Kang, Mo-Yeol
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 01.06.2024
Subjects
Bias
Blood Pressure
Cross-sectional studies
Epidemiology
Female
Humans
Hypertension
Hypertension - epidemiology
Male
Meta-analysis
Observational studies
Prevention
Public health
Reviews
Risk assessment
Risk Factors
Search strategies
Systematic review
Work Schedule Tolerance - physiology
Working conditions
Working hours
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
HYPERTENSION
META-ANALYSIS
BLOOD PRESSURE
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Summary:Hypertension, a major public health problem worldwide, has been linked to lifestyle factors and work conditions, with conflicting evidence on the association between long work hours and risk of hypertension. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies to investigate the relationship between working hours and hypertension or blood pressure, assessed the risk of bias and performed subgroup analyses. The protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews. The pooled OR for the association between long working hours and risk of hypertension was 1.09 (95% CI: 0.88 to 1.35) in the 15 studies that used hypertension as the outcome. In the three studies that used blood pressure as the outcome, diastolic blood pressure was higher among those with long working hours compared with those with non-long working hours (1.24 mm Hg, 95% CI: 0.19 to 2.29). In subgroup analysis, the pooled OR for the association between long working hours and risk of hypertension was 1.28 (95% CI: 1.14 to 1.44) and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.64 to 1.56) in women and men, respectively. Although this study could not clearly confirm the relationship between long working hours and hypertension, the subgroup analysis suggests that long working hours may be associated with hypertension, particularly among women. More reliable research is needed to establish causality. CRD42023406961.
ISSN:0143-005X
1470-2738
DOI:10.1136/jech-2023-220912